12/2/2013
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
Weather, daylight halts search for missing plane near Johnson Creek, efforts continue tomorrow morning
BOISE - The search for a missing plane near Johnson Creek airport near Yellow Pine was suspended for the evening because of inclement weather and lack of daylight. The search will resume at daybreak tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 3), with Blackhawk and Lakota helicopters searching from the air and a ground-search party on track vehicles, ATVs and snowmobiles combing the area.
The BE-36 Beech Bonanza departed Baker City, Ore., after 11 a.m. Sunday, bound for the Burt Mooney airport in Butte, Mont. The plane reportedly carried five individuals. It lost radar and cell tower contact near Johnson Creek airstrip about 50 miles northeast of Cascade, Sunday afternoon.
An
Idaho Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter repeatedly attempted to fly into the area of the last known contact, about a
mile east of Johnson Creek airstrip. Each time, the helicopter was turned back by poor weather.
The Civil Air Patrol and fixed-wing airplanes from the Idaho Transportation Department will join in the search when weather allows a safe launch. The Valley County Sheriff’s Department, from Cascade, is coordinating the ground search.